Jackson a factor for net's Ludlum drama

Larry Sanitsky (“The Last Don”) and Paul Sandberg (“The Bourne Supremacy”) are aboard to exec produce the project, which will lense in Toronto, Paris and Berlin. Project will be available for broadcast later this season, though CBS has not yet determined an airdate.

Elwood Reid (“Blind Justice”) wrote the script for “Covert One: The Hades Factor,” adapting it from the 2000 novel by Ludlum and Gayle Lynds.

Sanitsky and German producer Tandem announced plans for “Hades” in spring at MIP, but no network, stars or helmer were attached (Daily Variety, April 12).

Ludlum’s bestselling series of “Covert One” novels revolves around a secret intelligence agency consisting of political and tech experts who fight corruption and conspiracy, reporting directly to the U.S. president.

Dorff will play Col. Jonathan Smith, a disease specialist and ex-agent of Covert One whose fiancee has been killed by an Ebola-like virus spreading around the world. When it turns out the virus may have been deliberately spread, the president — played by Huston — orders a cover-up.

Sorvino will play Rachel Russell, a Covert One agent who goes missing after killing two men.

Colm Meaney (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) will play a former spy and friend of Smith’s, Blair Underwood (“LAX”) the No. 2 official at Covert One.